INTRODUCTION
Reading
the Gospel according to Mark, one feels Mark is fairly bursting with the good
news of Jesus Christ the son of God, crucified and risen from death. Obvious in
Mark’s introduction is the fact that that Jesus is the Son of God. The most striking
feature of the Gospel according to mark is the theme of the messianic secret.
This is a theme which raises the fundamental question of the identity of Jesus.
Thus, why did Jesus forbid his identity to be revealed? This paper will focus
on elaborating the theme of the messianic secret as in the gospel according to
Mark; what it is, its proponents and opponents.
WHAT IS THE MESSIANIC SECRETS?
The
messianic secret is a theme in the gospel according to Mark which speaks of
Jesus’ insistence on concealing his identity and mighty works during the time
of his public ministry. It is a theme which sprang from biblical criticism, expressing
Jesus’ repeated desire to remain unpublicized during the time of his ministry here
on earth. This insistence of Jesus forbids both demons and people from
revealing His identity. Some of these instances can be seen in Mark 1:25, 34,
3:12 and Mark 8:30 respectively. Why did Jesus forbid that his identity should
be revealed? Why would he want them to keep this stunning revelation to
themselves?
A clue to this puzzle is revealed in Peter’s
confession or profession of faith. Jesus’ messianic identity enclosed a deeper
mystery more than any of the apostles or even his followers could understand. However,
this mystery was unveiled gradually when Jesus completes the first part of his
ministry, his Galilean mission which consists mostly of his deeds. However,
before He begins his Jerusalem ministry, which will highlight his passion and
death, He wishes to clarify his identity with his disciples. Peter’s confession
of Jesus as the messiah is apparently correct, but Peter still thinks of him
merely as a miracle working messiah and a person of grandeur. That has been the
traditional concept of the messiah. Jesus’ response, surprisingly, is a stern
injunction to silence.[1] He
prohibiting them not to reveal his identity makes it clear that this title can
only be misleading until people have experienced his passion, death and
resurrection. Thus the Messiahship of Christ is complete only in his cross and
death. Since the disciples did not yet comprehend the true nature of Jesus
messiahship, Jesus would not allow them to interpret it in the light of their own
earthly understanding and expectation. However, the second part of the gospel according
to mark makes the identity of Jesus clearer.[2]
The popular expectation of the
messiah is one who would exercise a political and military dominance, who would
liberate Israel from Roman domination and bring back peace and progress.
However, the mission of Jesus is far beyond that. The messiahship of Jesus
transcends all Jewish expectations. Jesus had come to bring a greater liberation
from the shackles of Satan, sin and death. This mission is necessarily linked
to his sacrificial death, being obedient even unto death on a cross. The
gradual disclosure of the messianic secret has to happen for every Christian,
as we learn from Jesus the paradox of the cross. The warrant of the messianic
secret is thus: until the mystery of the messianic identity is revealed, there
is a fundamental risk that sensational reports about the miracles of Jesus
would generate a false and distorted messianic enthusiasm[3] as
the one Jesus escaped in the gospel according to John 6: 15 where the people
forcefully want to take him and make him a king.
Nonetheless, there is a striking
contrast to the messianic secret, which made of an exorcised man the first
Christian missionary to the people of the gentile nations (Mark 5: 19), where
Jesus told a man he delivered from demonic possession, who had asked to remain
with him, to “go home to your people and tell them how much the Lord has done
for you and how he has had mercy on you” (Mark 5:19). This is to say that
Jesus’ rejection of the Man’s request is rather a commissioning. However it is
arguable that the man is not asked to proclaim the identity of Jesus, but
rather what Jesus did for him. Jesus use of the word “the Lord” (ho Kyrios) in place of his own name is a
veiled reference to his divinity.[4]
The
miracles of Jesus point to the truth of his messianic identity; however, they
are only part of the truth. This is thus the reason for Jesus’ insistence that
his identity remain unrevealed until after his resurrection as he instructed
the apostles after his transfiguration.
SOME INSTANCES THAT IMPLIED THE
MESSIANIC SECRET
Instances
of the messianic secret are spread all through the gospel of mark. Some of
these instances are: Mark 1:44 after
Jesus had, out of pity, healed a leper who requested his healing at his
(Jesus’) own will. However, as Jesus sent him away, He sternly warned him not
to tell anyone about it. This is the first clear instance of what the biblical
scholars call the messianic secret. Also in Mark 5:43 after Jesus had resurrected twelve years old Jairus’
daughter, He strictly ordered that no one should know about it. Another
instance is on Mark 7:36 after Jesus
healed the deaf and dumb man; He ordered that they should not tell anyone. However, here it was not portrayed
that Jesus succeeded in stopping the people from proclaiming, because the
people were completely astonished. Yet another instance is Mark 8: 26, here the messianic secret is implied when after curing
a blind man, Jesus sends the man home and asks that he never return to the
village. It is implied here because, had the man stayed back in the village,
the people would recognized him as the once blind man and would inquire how he
got to regain his sight which would warrant the man to expose the identity of
Jesus. Also in Mark 9:9 after the glory
of Jesus was manifested on the mount Tabor and the three apostles present had a
glimpse of his divinity, when they got down from the mountain Jesus ordered the
disciples not to tell anyone what they had seen, until the Son of man had risen
from the dead. The condition for the proclamation of his identity as given by
Jesus reemphasizes the point that His messianic identity would not be properly
understood until he had embraced and conquered death. A classical passage of
the messianic secret is Mark 8: 29-30, the
scene at Caesarea Philippi where Peter confessed Jesus as the messiah.
Nevertheless
Jesus also rebuked demons from revealing his identity, these instances are
particularly seen in Mark 1:25 here
Jesus had ordered an evil spirit to be silent and come out of the man it possessed
after it had proclaimed that Jesus is the holy one of God. Also in Mark 1:34 it is recounted that Jesus
drove out many demons; but never allowed them to speak because they know who he
was. Here the reason given by Mark why Jesus did not allow the demons to speak
stands as a strong argument for the affirmation of the messianic secret. In Mark 3:12 Jesus had also warned that no
one should be told who he was.
THE PROPONENT OF THE MESSIANIC
SECRET
The first proponent of the messianic
secret is a German Lutheran theologian named Wilhelm Wrede who proposed that
Jesus was consciously hiding his identity from His enemies by commanding the
disciples to keep silent about his miracles. Wrede demonstrates that Mark’s
gospel portrays Jesus as someone who rejects messianic claims in an enigmatic
method.
However,
he sought to substantiate his charge that the portrayal of the messianic
consciousness of Jesus by Biblical scholars exemplified by Oscar Holtzmann
cannot be established from Mark. According to Wrede the search for a
development of Jesus’ messianic consciousness is based upon a misconception,
for Mark simply does not answer the questions which must be answered if such a
development is to be traced. Wrede brought forth some question whose answer
Mark didn’t provide. Some of the questions are: on what account does Jesus
continually forbid people to speak of his messianic dignity and miracles? On what
account does he keep silent over and against the disciples?[5]
Wrede went on to say that Jesus wishing the disciples to arrive at the right
attitude towards him on their own is neither hinted nor self-evident in Mark;
however, on what account is the secret still to be kept from the people after
Peter confessed that Jesus is the Christ of God in Caesarea Philippi? Nonetheless,
a very outrageous claim of Wrede is that Jesus never thinks of himself as the
messiah of divine.
THE OPPONENT OF MESSIANIC SECRET
Scholarship has provided
insurmountable problems that destroy Wrede’s hypothesis and leave it
insufficient for the position its arguing for. These are the people who argue
for messianic consciousness. Basically the opponents are scholars who initially
respond in opposition to Wrede’s submission. One of the outstanding critics of
Wrede’s position is William Sanday, an oxford professor who championed the
positions of the radical Historicism. Sanday in his argument says that Wrede’s
position is exceptionally in error. He characterized Wrede’s writing style like
that of a “Prussian Office”[6],
making it utterly superficial and impossible.[7] However,
another opponent is Albert Schweitzer who holds that Jesus is aware and
understood his messianic call, but enigmatically veiled it under the title,
“Son of man.” He goes on to say that
Jesus kept his awareness a mystery, only gradually revealing it. This led to Peter’s confession and ultimately
to his own confession before the High Priest. Both William Sanday and Albert
Schweitzer reactions to William Wrede’s messianic secret was characterized by
attempts to reclaim historical grounds for describing the life of Jesus.
EVALUATION
If
difficulties arise because of what Mark does not say, they also arise because
of what he does say. Although, sometimes Jesus enjoins silence upon the people
whom he heal, at other times he perform miracles in the full glare of publicity.[8]
However, if the son of man means the messiah, then following the events of Mark 2:10 and 2:28 it would mean Jesus has long designated and revealed his
identity before Peter’s confession. Jesus enjoining his three apostles to keep
quiet about what they saw during the transfiguration till after his
resurrection throws more light to his parable of the Lamp in Mark 4:21-23. This however, would imply
that the Messiahship of Jesus as Mark had constructed his gospel is designed to
be a secret throughout his earthly ministry and is to be made known after his
resurrection.
CONCLUSION
However,
as a researcher, I conclude that the messianic secret is a theological idea
that resulted out of biblical criticism and not Mark’s invention. Jesus as the
Christ Performed miracle; an evidence of His Messiahship, but then enjoins the
witnesses to keep silent about it. If the miracles of Jesus are evidences of
his Messiahship, why does he hide it? The controversy of the messianic secret
is still very debatable.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BROWN RAYMOND, An Introduction to the New Testament, Theological Publication,
Bangalore 2014.
HEALY
MARY, The Gospel of Mark, Baker
Academic, Washington 2008.
SANDAY WILLIAMS, The Life of Christ in Recent Research, Oxford University Press, New
York 1907.
WILLIAMS WREDE, The Messianic Secret, trans. J. C. G. Grieg, James Clarke &
Co., Cambridge 1971.
The New community Bible, St
Paul Publications, Ibadan 2013.
[2] The New community Bible: Commentary on Mark
8:27-30, St Paul Publications, Ibadan
2013.
[7] Ibid.
74.
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